Ford is taking a cautious approach to the international rollout of its Universal EV platform, announced in August, as it reshapes its electric vehicle strategy in the US.
This platform, its first fully in-house electric vehicle architecture, will debut with a mid-size pick-up truck expected in 2027, priced at around $30,000 — as the company moves away from what CEO Jim Farley called “high-end EVs.”
Although the upcoming platform is well-suited for European markets, where compact vehicles are popular, investment challenges are likely to delay its launch in the region.
According to Ford of Europe President Jim Baumbick, while the platform is “flexible” to be used on vehicles below mid-size, its deployment in Europe would need “very significant undertaking in terms of engineering and capital intensity.”
The company’s CEO also stated that they “did not rule out” bringing the UEV platform to Europe in the future; however, the automaker needs to test it out first in the US.
“We have not landed the plane yet,” Farley said. “We have a lot of work to do.”
Europe Plan
In Europe, Ford has partnered with local automakers to reduce financial risks in its electric vehicle strategy.
The company first collaborated with Volkswagen Group, using its MEB (Modular Electric Drive) platform to produce two Ford-branded EVs for the European market: the Explorer and Capri compact EVs, built at Ford‘s Cologne plant.
Now, Ford is also collaborating with Renault, in addition to Volkswagen, as it seeks to improve profitability in its EV segment.
Starting in 2028, Renault will build two Ford EVs using its AmpR small EV platform.
“As a company, and probably as an industry, everybody has learned a lot in this first round of EV investments,” Baumbick stated earlier this month.
Hence, “the right answer for us, especially as we are working through this transition, is leveraging a very competitive platform with Renault,” the executive noted.
Competition from Chinese Automakers
In recent months, Ford CEO Jim Farley has commented several times on increasing competition from Chinese automakers.
This competition is primarily affecting Europe, as these companies have not yet made significant inroads into the US market.
“The competitive threat that we are seeing with the Chinese in Europe is significant,” Farley reaffirmed earlier this month, noting that “it’s forcing everybody to look at how efficiently we invest capital and what level of material cost we can get to make these products affordable.”
Last week, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents General Motors, Ford, Toyota, and other major automakers, called on Congress and the Trump administration to take action in a statement submitted for a US House hearing on Chinese vehicles.
Speaking at the Decoder podcast earlier this year, Farley said that Chinese automakers benefit from huge government subsidies, which have led these brands to “completely dominate the EV landscape globally.”
These subsidies are at the base of the European Commission’s tariffs on imported electric vehicles from China.
Late last year, Jim Farley praised Xiaomi‘s SU7, saying on the Everything Electric show that he’s “been driving it for six months now and I don’t want to give it up.”
EV Strategy Change
Ford unveiled its Universal EV Platform in August, while announcing a massive investment in electric vehicle battery manufacturing.
“It has a radically different manufacturing process, a radically different supply chain and totally different technology. It’s our software running the car,” Farley said.
While “Ford has never landed its fully owned electric architecture,” the chief executive noted that they “will have to do it when we launch this vehicle.”
Last week, the company pulled back on its EV strategy by announcing it would halt production of the F-150 Lightning electric pickup and focus instead on hybrid and internal combustion vehicles.
Just four months after the battery production announcement, Ford redirected that production toward energy storage, leading to several project cancellations and layoffs at its Kentucky manufacturing facilities.
The company expects a $19.5 billion impairment, mostly in the final quarter of 2025, with some impact extending into 2026.
These moves are part of Ford‘s plan to make its ‘Model e’ EV unit profitable by 2029.
According to a new filing with the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Ford has recently issued a recall on 272,645 vehicles due to an issue with their transmissions.
The issue could cause the vehicles to roll away when parked. The recall involved F-150 Lightning units of model year 2022 to 2026 and Mustang Mach-Es produced from 2024 to 2026, among other models.
